Reseting Root password in SuSE 8.2

Hi all,

Due to a fast ball in work Ive just started using SuSE again today after about a year of not using it, hence I cant remember my root password.

A friend of mine has told me how to do it but he isnt very well know for, shall we say, giving reliable IT advice, here is what he told me to do, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if it is correct or if it willl trash my system!

" Boot into rescue mode from the Inst. CD's
Type:
cd /etc
vi passwd

Go down to root line

root:x: o : o :root:/root:/bin/bash

Delete the X after root

Press ESC wq

vi shadow

delete everything so it look like

root ::::

Esc wq

Restart then enter new password"


Does anyone know if this is correct?

I would prob just go ahead and do it but i need this up and runnning for monday morning and really dont want to spend all sunday having to reinstall it again!!

Thanks for any help guys/gals! :)

If you can boot into single user mode then simply do so and use the passwd util and presto, reset password. Typically this will work when you boot into rescue mode too.

Of course you should disable this little backdoor as part of your hardening process. ;)

If this would work, I would consider it a security breach. I don't know the answer but I am really interested in this. (Since I want to experiment with SuSE in the near future...)

(Since I want to experiment with SuSE in the near future...) Top tip, write your root password down in big letters on a big yellow post-it note and stick it on your monitor so you will never ever forget it!


Thanks horse, certainly a lot simpler than the way I was told!!

I tried it your way horse and it was addamant that I didnt have the right permissions to do it!

So I tried it the way my friend suggested, it was going good untill i tried to exit from the vi passwd bit by pressing ESC wq, no matter how many times i pressed it it was not about to let me exit, so in desperation I pressed CTL ALT DEL and it told me it was killing a few services and then restarted, I had hoped it might have saved my edited passwd file but it didnt!

Any other suggestions???

Thanks!

Nokia,

Here's the whole routine. The other guy left some pieces out near the end.

At least he could have listed the source:rolleyes:

Source

cheers

edit:

Little vi help:

ZZ- saves the current changes to the file and exit from vi

:wq - same as ZZ

:q - quits the current file - works only if you don't have any unsaved files

:q! - quits the current file and don't save the changes you made.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Nokia
(Since I want to experiment with SuSE in the near future...) Top tip, write your root password down in big letters on a big yellow post-it note and stick it on your monitor so you will never ever forget it!

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Actually, I do write down all my passwords, in a little notebook that I keep close to my computer. This I need because I use lots of different passwords for everything.
Btw, the passwords that I've written down do have one or more characters too many. There is a simple pattern in it but if you don't know the pattern, you can't determine the real passwords from what I've written down.
Writing down a password might not be a good idea but neither is using the same password over and over again. And while I have a pretty good memory, by now I have about 40 different passwords to remember. And at least it allows me to 'remember' them for years. :)

Thanks for the help everyone, I tried and I tried and I tried again but in the end I took the suckers option and reinstalled the damned thing!

Thanks all!

Katja: It's an old adage in information security (especially when dealing with a Unix system) that if someone has access to the console, the system is already compromised. Because of that, security on the console is usually pretty lax (although not always...you can make it fairly tight through the use of BIOS passwords, lockable cases, etc.). Physical security mechanisms should be employed long before someone can reach the console (with things like ID badge access, security cameras, guards, biometric controls, infared sensors, sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads, etc.). If someone can reset the physical machine, then they could simply boot off a 3rd party disk, mount the local root filesystem and change the root password. Therefore, physical security around a system console should be given equal if not more attention than the software security on the system itself if the system carries any information worth protecting.

Interesting that this failed in SuSE. I had worked on the RedHat distros for years. I think I'm going to give it a run on a lab machine on Monday morning just for fun.

Katja,

This isn't a security issue. Take a peek at single user mode in linux and it should be fairly obvious why this is the case. Well, other than what roswell has already provided, which I agree with 100%.

Also, this technique is all over the internet. Throw linux root password reset in google. My guess it that you'll have 100s of hits on the 2 techniques listed here.

Yeah.. same with a standard lilo setup (without restricted and password)
(like most slackware boxes)

Lilo: linux init=/bin/bash rw

passwd

Quote:

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Originally posted here by thehorse13
Interesting that this failed in SuSE. I had worked on the RedHat distros for years.

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Heh, sucks when you're trying to PWN an actually SECURE OS doesn't it? Lol, works fine on redhat, but SUSE doesn't allow that bullshit. You forget, you reinstall.

gore: Does SuSE do anything special to try and stop booting off a Linux install disk and mounting the root partition? Seems to me like not allowing you to init to a bash shell is just an inconvenience if you just need a boot disk.

Heh, I've tried screwing up this before, the farthest gotten, was root could no longer log in at all.

I thik it depends if the distro uses the shadow suite or a pam system..

In case of pam (atleast SuSE 9 uses that) it is a lot harder, atleast you can't go and vi the shadow file..

I'll look into 'cracking' the pam (or just finding a nice loophole) when I find the time..

Quote:

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Heh, sucks when you're trying to PWN an actually SECURE OS doesn't it? Lol,

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ROFL. I didn't try to PWN it. If I did, I would wrap it in a giftbox and deliver it to your front door. Of course a minicam would be in the box to capture the expression when you saw the SuSE box posting with a Windows ME splash screen. ;)

I about spewed my drink all over my monitor when I read that..........WinME blip....... talk about a surge of emotional depression.

Don't you CISSP guys take an oath to always do.................?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by thehorse13
ROFL. I didn't try to PWN it. If I did, I would wrap it in a giftbox and deliver it to your front door. Of course a minicam would be in the box to capture the expression when you saw the SuSE box posting with a Windows ME splash screen. ;)

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Don't get personal, your daughter is how old again?? ;)